Service demand increases lead to predicted in-year overspend to £15.3 million at North Northamptonshire Council
06 November 2025
A report on the financial position of North Northamptonshire Council in the current financial year will be discussed at the authority’s Executive next week.
Like elsewhere in the country, the need for council services continues to increase and this has been coupled with continued financial pressures in the wider economy, with inflation remaining above the government’s target.
The report shows that the council is predicting to spend £15.3 million more on its revenue account in 2025-2026 than was originally planned.
Greater need means the council has had to spend more on looking after vulnerable children, with this service due to spend £8.8 million more than the original budget.
Money spent on looking after vulnerable adults is currently forecast to be £5.1 million more this year, while money spent on transporting some children from their homes to school makes up most of the forecast overspend in the Place and Economy group of services, of £1.9 million.
Work continues within the council’s services to look at ways of finding further ways to run more efficiently to reduce the overspend before the end of the financial year at the end of March.
While the council’s revenue account has some money set aside to use if services cost more than planned, the authority will first look at finding ways of being more efficient before using this money.
Our finance monitoring reports are to do just that – keep an eye on the books as the year progresses to see if we’re on track to achieve a balanced budget.Cllr Martin Griffiths, Leader of the Council
What this means is that we can identify how savings can be made right now, while there are a few months before the end of the financial year.
We recognise that here, like elsewhere we face significant challenges both with service demand and the economic conditions. However, we also need to do what we can to face those challenge head on and be as lean and efficient as possible while delivering quality services to our residents.
The council’s draft budget is announced in December each year with people being asked to give their views on proposals before receiving final approval in February before implementation in April.
Since the start of the current financial year the authority has made £22 million efficiency savings out of the £28.6 million identified at the start of the current financial year with a further £4.8 million still achievable.
The budget for the next financial year – 2026-2027 - will initially be discussed at Executive on 16 December.